at Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:33:25 GMT in <1121200405.441737.135050
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, (dakota2112) wrote :

>Ok, so I've been reading for quite a while about how good a steak is
>when it's seared in a hot cast iron skillet. On "Good Eats", Alton
>Brown says to preheat the skillet in a 500 degree oven, then place the
>skillet on the range top and sear the steak for 30 seconds.
>
>I tried this last night. But because of a pie being in the oven, I
>wasn't able to preheat that way, so I turned the electric rangetop
>burner to HIGH and let the skillet preheat for about 20 minutes. It
>got hot to where I couldn't hold my hand above the skillet for more
>than a few seconds, and the skillet took on a gray ash-like appearance.
> I dropped my room-temperature, safflower-oiled steak in the skillet,
>filled my house with smoke, and ended up with only a very minimal
>seared crust - and I seared it for at least 1-2 minutes per side.

Don't oil the steak. It should go in the skillet without anything else on
it - in the first place because anything else will simply burn, and in the
second place because that just puts another layer between pan and the
steak's surface. At the temperatures involved, I think oil might actually
be dangerous (possible flare-up)

Smoke, meanwhile, is inevitable. Open every window you can and remove
batteries from smoke detectors.

A good test of whether the pan is hot enough is to drop a few drops of
water on the pan's surface. If they literally bounce off the surface like
tiny rubber balls, it's hot enough. I find that even the point where the
drops evaporate instantly with a quick hiss isn't nearly hot enough. I
assume, btw, that your skillet was cast-iron? The bigger the skillet, the
better.

Be aware also that "seared" isn't the same as "burnt". If you're looking
for a thick layer of actual carbon char on the surface, then you really
need to expose it directly to open flame. A good sear should create a dark,
ruddy colour - very distinctive and revealing the muscle fiber direction
and grain clearly. Also, carbon char adds nothing to the flavour except a
burnt taste. So again, unless you're looking specifically for the flavour
of carbon, there's no need to burn the surface of the steak.

--
Alex Rast

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